Black Ops: Tips for Playing New Maps

While looking for information regarding the new Black Ops map pack, Annihilation, I found the following video by Matroix. He offers some good advice on how to play a new map pack. While this video was made for Escalation the advice he gives can easily be applied to any new map.

Tips for Playing To Win With General Population

I’m writing this because I hear a lot of self proclaimed “great” players whine about how they can’t win when playing with general population. If they are such “great, uber” players then shouldn’t they be able to carry a team to victory no matter what the odds? I’m here to tell these people, your team doesn’t suck. You do. Well, more precisely, your attitude sucks. I believe you have a decent chance to win any game if you have a good enough player who is a better leader than he is an egotistical shit.

Don’t be a Captain Sobel. These asshats are the reason no one uses their mics in Black Ops. Everyone wants to win but what most of us want is to just have a good time. Please respect that. Good natured jibing is one thing, abusive, foul-mouthed taunting is another. Yelling and screaming at people, despite what you see on reality TV, accomplishes nothing. The one thing great leaders have in common is confidence. Great leaders inspire confidence in others by encouraging words and positive action. Yelling and screaming at people makes you look infantile. Lack luster. Pathetic. Just because you don’t see anyone with a mic on does not mean that some of those people are not listening. A lot of them are and they are waiting for leadership. The truth is yelling and screaming just brings everyone on the team down, you may have 30 kills in that game your team lost but all that whining and whinging from you during the match contributed more to the team loss than the kid who got 3 kills and 40 deaths.

Mike Keenan didn’t rant and rave, he simply told his boys they should be proud of themselves. He told them to play hard and enjoy the moment.

Don’t be that guy on the team that thinks he’s “Gods Gift to Gaming” and everyone else on the team sucks. He’s not part of the reason the team is losing, the rest of you are. Being confident is one thing, being an asshole is another. In the 1994 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Rangers needed to win the next 2 games or loose their shot at the Cup to the Devils. Before game six Mark Messier stepped up to the plate and guaranteed the win. Mark scored 3 goals in that game and the Rangers won. When Vancouver forced a game 7 after the Rangers had been up by 2 games Mike Keenan didn’t rant and rave, he simply told his boys they should be proud of themselves. He told them to play hard and enjoy the moment. That this is what they all dreamed about, playing a seventh game on home ice to win the Stanley Cup. The Rangers broke 50 years of “bad luck” and won the cup. There is no arguing that there was a boat load of talent on the Rangers that year but the Canucks weren’t a bunch of scrubs either. Leadership won the Rangers the cup that year, above all else it was the leadership that prevailed.

All men and women may not be born equal but that does not mean they don’t have the right to be treated as such.

If your team is doing bad, don’t get frustrated, don’t yell into the mic for people to get out of your way. Encourage the team, nurture them, guide them… LEAD THE WAY. Call out enemy positions, tell them you need someone to help take Flag B, say confidently “Who is going with me to get that flag?” You’ll be surprised at how easily this approach will turn the tide of the game. Talk to the team even if you think no one is listening. Talk TO the team, not AT them. All men and women may not be born equal but that does not mean they don’t have the right to be treated as such. Treat people with respect and mute the ones that don’t return it. Never waiver from your determination to win, never whine and show weakness. If no one showed up to help you cap the flag don’t ask, “where the fuck where you guys?” Say, “OK that’ didn’t go as planned, lets try this again, who’s with me?“

As the self proclaimed messiah of gaming it falls on you to gauge what the team is doing. If three or more guys are focused on capping then be the stalker. Circle the map and take out the enemy on their way to the objectives. You have to adapt to your teams play style. If you can’t go from being a rusher to being a tank you won’t do well in gen pop, you have to be versatile. You have to be the one to try and make up for your team’s shortcomings.

If you can’t do this, do us all a favor then; STFU about how great your are.

CoD BO: Domination Tactics On Jungle

CALLOUT MAP
I found this map at HupitGaming forums, I believe it was created by a forum member named INFINITE.  If she sees this I would like to thank her for creating it.  It saved me a lot of work.

STRATEGY MAP
STAGING GROUNDS:  These two spots on the map are the safest places to call in your Killstreak packages.
THE HIGH GROUND: The most important area of the map to control.  If you plan on keeping the B flag you must own this shack and the North Path behind it.

A,B & C: Approximate locations of the DOM flags.
S1-5: Likely sniper nesting spots & their site lines.
A1-C4: Attack paths

The key to winning any DOM game is holding down 2 flags, most importantly the B flag, usually located in the middle of the map.  But on Jungle you will not hold onto B unless you also control the High Ground above it.

Given this, it is best to control C and B as C has easier access to both B and the High Ground above it.  If you start at A, you’re initial instinct may be to run everyone to B, while sending a couple of guys up the C4 path to the High Ground.  A more radical strategy would be to send two “sacrificial lambs” to preoccupy the enemy at B and the High Ground while the rest of the team flanks along the A2 path to get and hold C.  Your main concern while performing this flanking maneuver will be the S2 sniper spot at the Pier.  If the sniper has chosen to take up position on the top of the Pier, he will be easily spotted by one of your team.  However, it’s the sneaky git with ghost hiding under the bridge who poses the most danger as he is pretty much invisible.  If he is smart, he will wait for you to pass and take you all out while you are trying to capture C.  So be sure to pop off a few silenced rounds into the brush under the Pier as you pass by it.  Your other concern would be the C3 path that leads directly to the C flag but if you perform this maneuver early and fast enough, the other team should be preoccupied with trying to get B.  Once at the C flag, your main worry is the sniper at S1.  Sending someone up after him is probably best as he will be too lethal with a well placed grenade.  The rest of you need to worry about the guys controlling the High Ground, send a barrage of grenades and flashes across the Small Bridge immediately, with at least one guy covering the C2 path.  If you have 3-4 with you, you should be able to cap that flag pretty quick.  Next I suggest you take up defensive positions at C so you can regroup and fight back the enemy as they try to reclaim it.  If you are lucky, the other team may have got cocky and sent someone for A.  Let them have it, now they will spawn there and will have to leg it back to C.  This will give you some time to capture the High Ground, control the North Path and mount an attack on B.

The High Ground is easy enough controlled.  A couple of guys in the shack can easily dispatch any enemy coming for B along the A3 path.  Placing a claymore along the North Path will temporarily secure it.  If anything it will give one of the guys in the shack fair warning that an attacker is coming when he hears his equipment is destroyed.  Leaving a “lingerer” back there may be a more quantifiable strategy.  Someone with a grenade launcher and a China Lake as a secondary can easily hover, behind the shack along the C4 and C1 paths and control the area.  The guys in the shack will need to keep a vigilant eye out for snipers at S3 and S5.  It’s a good idea to pop off a few shots at S3 every now and then to see if you get a hit marker.

While it is possible for a skilled player to hold down the sniper spot at S1, it is also the first place people will look for you on this map.  Placing one of your Mortars here will almost always guarantee you a kill, sometimes even two!  Be careful of snipers hiding in the brush at S4 too.  Especially if you are flanking the A2 path to get to the High Ground.

When mounting an attack on B from A, I’ve had a reasonable amount of luck by flanking along the A2 path and cutting across and under the S1 sniper spot.  The enemy defending B is usually preoccupied with allies coming along the A3 path and will stay focused on this path, making them easy targets from behind.

These are some of the strategies I use on Jungle.  They are not the only strategies for this map.  I’m sure many of you have your own tactics for this map and I would love to hear about them in the comments section.

CoD BO: The K/D Experiment, Prestige 3 & I’m Done

I’ve hit prestige for the last time in Black Ops.  Prestige 3, I’m done.  Only did it to 3 to get a theme going with my gamertag.  I’m not saying I’m fed up with Black Ops.  Not at all.  But from now on I’m playing strictly for fun.  Gonna get all my favorite pro perks back and I’ll be right as rain.

THE KILL/DEATH RATIO EXPERIMENT

I decided when I hit second prestige that I would do an experiment regarding whether or not focusing on K/D ratio adversely affects team game play for an average player such as myself.  At the start of this experiment my K/D was an abysmal .69 and my win/loss was .90 or so.  Keep in mind I play mostly DOM games and, before I began this experiment, had no problem trying to capture 10 or more flags during a game.  Also keep in mind that I have quit more games because of lag and a$$hats then I care to remember.

The rules I set for myself were simple.  Quit all games that would adversely affect my K/D.  These included games in which I zoned in late only to hear the sky full of enemy aircraft and enemy dogs running around and my standing rule about not playing with a$$hats and Captain Sobels (those demoralizing, feckless, silver spooned gits that do nothing but moan and gripe about how much the team sucks from the safety of their parents basements) always stands.  I would cap the first flag and spend the rest of the game circling the map, clearing out enemies guarding the objectives, campers, looking for the flankers, and guarding our flags.  I would only take another flag if I had a couple of team mates with me or I was fairly sure the enemy was fully occupied on the other side of the map.  When I first started this experiment I held myself strictly to these rules regardless of winning or losing.  In time though my basic nature of comradeship took hold and I would put my K/D at risk for the sake of a reasonably good team.

I finished this experiment with a K/D of .82 and a W/L of .61

From my personal experience I have to say that in objective based games such as DOM, the player that is unequivocally preoccupied with his K/D will be detrimental to the team.  I’m not saying that I didn’t help in a lot of games, I did.  But I had a good team with me on those games in which I was most useful with these tactics.  They did a great job of capturing flags while I did a fairly decent job of shooting the enemy before the enemy shot them!  Most games though I just ended up feeling like I could have done more for the win.  Then there were those games in which I was positive nothing I could have done would’ve helped because we were just that bad collectively–some people just don’t mesh together as a team.

LESSONS LEARNED

But this experiment taught me a lot more.  For starters I have a new favorite class.

Ghost Pro, Hardened Pro, Hacker Pro
Galil with Red Dot, STRELA, Frag/Flash/Claymore

I always used to think that the iron sites on the guns were good enough, then I popped the red dot on the Galil and noticed a significant increase in accuracy over a few games.  Remaining completely hidden by using a silencer on this build is less important as most of the time I’m constantly on the move, flanking and coming up behind the enemy.  If an enemy saw me it was visually and he was more than likely behind me.  I’m still not sure about the “less flinching when shot” aspect of Hardened Pro; people say it helps on 1v1 fights so I’ll let it have a placebo effect on me.  I’m more interested in it’s basic bullet penetration aspects.  There’s many places on many maps in this game where you can kill the most predictable of campers simply by shooting through a wall in the corner of a room.

During my first few runs up the ladder I would get the Famas as soon as it was available, but this time my patience wore thin with the M16.  I tried the Enfield as soon as it became available and found I like it much better than the Famas.  The Famas runs out of ammo too fast for me and using Scavenger with it is a must.  The Enfield’s iron sites are perfect and equipped with a silencer it’s deadly in my hands, I’ve enjoyed using this gun so much that I have kept it equipped on my Legionnaire class even though the tried and true Galil is available for me now.  I also started using the reflex site on the Commando and found this combination to work well but this may have more to do with me not liking the red dot on this gun.  There is something about the way it’s attached to the body that bothers me.

I learned to be a little more cautious in DOM games.  To have a little more self-preservation does not hurt.  But you have to work with the team for the win and compensate for their shortcomings.  A lot of people playing DOM seem to play it the way I did during this experiment and if everyone on your team is doing this you will not win.  Many of the other things I learned are just reinforcements of things I already knew I should be doing but for some odd reason always tend to forget in the heat of battle.  Things like not sprinting everywhere, only fools rush in to objectives, etc.  The one thing I am sure of is that focusing so much on all these meaningless statistics made the game a lot less fun for me.

The most gratifying games for me are the ones in which we win or lose by 30 points or less.  I have the most fun in this these games, right up until the obnoxious Captain Sobel on the losing team inevitably bitches about his team sucking as he backs out of the lobby.  But you know what they say?  Some cause happiness wherever they go. Others whenever they go.

CoD Black Ops Tips: Class Builds; The Legionnaire

This is the 2nd of my 3 main builds.   The Legionnaire, the build I worked on when working on Ghost Pro without a STRELA frustrated me.  This build served me well and I saw my Killstreak stats rise a little while using it.  While this build is good enough for most game types it probably works best in TDM or CTF games.  I rarely start a match with this fellow anymore, I prefer to start with one of my Ghost builds and pull this guy in after I get a Care Package so he can re-roll if need be.  But remember that nothing can push the team forward better than hearing a bunch of killstreaks being called in, the Legionnaire can be a good motivator at critical moments as well.  Let’s look at what we have here…

THE PERKS
Hardline Pro – The core of this build.  The ability to re-roll a care package is invaluable to me, especially seeing that I seem to have really odd good luck on the re-rolls.  Sure, others have all calculated the odds, ‘you ain’t got a snow ball’s chance in hell of gittin’ those dawgs‘.  But 9 times out of 10, whatever re-roll I get will be better than the Ammo crate that dropped.  Nothing can encourage a team forward more than the call of a friendly airstrike and mans best friend roaming the battle field in your defense.
Sleight of Hand Pro – Reload and aim faster, a must for every intense situation.  Hands down the most useful T2 perk in the game.
Hacker Pro – With this you not only have full situational awareness of the battlefield you’re able to turn the enemies tactics and equipment against them.  There is no bigger thrill in the game than being behind enemy lines and not only stealing an enemy care package but making go BOOM when they try and grab it.

WEAPONS & EQUIPMENT
Refer to my previous post (the Fantome) below.  Nothing changes here.

Flanking is the key with any build, especially when trying to take an objective.  Check your corners and watch your back because you only have the silencer to make sure you go unnoticed.  Resist the urge to sprint everywhere, and weave in and out of cover.  Getting Killstreaks faster is a nice bonus just be smart when pulling them in.  Other than the Spy Plane, there is usually no good reason to pull them in right away unless it’s near the end of the match.  Patience will pay off here.

CoD Black Ops Tips: Class Builds; Fantome, my “goto” guy

FIRST, LETS BREAK IT DOWN
To begin you have to understand the basis of my overall strategy, especially when playing with general population, which–in a nutshell–involves switching classes during the match to adjust to the SITREP of the match in real time.  Because of this it is hard to pin down the strategy of each build for you because they all compliment each other in the way I collectively use them.

Of course common strategies apply to each build in general.  Remember the strengths and weaknesses of the perks you’re using and get zen with them.  Always play a class build you can “dance” with.  Always try to flank and keep your back to the edge of the map and use cover.  Only go up the middle of the map if you have to or if there is plenty of cover.  If you’re not sure how you died, take the time to look at the Killcam.  Communicate with your team (if they have their mikes on and are not a bunch of a$$hats).  All of this has been covered on many Black Ops forums and in FAQ on the net.

Having said that, I will now briefly discuss the overall strategy without going into too much detail.  My Ghost class, Fantome, goes in first.  You can’t beat being off the grid, especially at the beginning of a match.  When I get killed and I have a Care Package ready to go I switch to my Hardline Pro class, Legionnaire, call in my Care Package and re-roll it if need be.  Sometimes I will keep Legionnaire in for the rest of the match other times I will switch back to Fantome.  When the sky above is filled with enemy aircraft I have an Anti-Air build (Ghost Pro/Hardened Pro/Hacker Pro with a STRELA) I resort to, providing no one else on my team is taking them out.  Finally, I call the Canonnier (Flak Pro/SoH Pro/Hacker Pro with grenade Launchers) in to clear out heavy campers or on maps like Firing Range or Nuketown (always on Nuketown, that map is just one big frag fest).  More details on tactics and strategies will be uncovered when as I discuss the individual builds themselves.

The Fantome (French for Ghost–French words just sound cooler than English ones!), my favorite build.  Undetectable by everything that’s not a Blackbird.  Off the grid is an understatement for this guy.

THE PERKS
Ghost Pro – Undetectable to every aircraft except the Blackbird.  Infrared Scopes can’t see you.  Sentries ignore you and most enemies will run right past you the first few time they encounter you in a match.  Could you ask for anything more?  I never realized just how much people rely on the mini-map in this game till I got Ghost Pro.
Warlord Pro – An underrated Pro Perk.  Having extra grenades is always a good thing.  You have to use Dual Mags to make up for not having SoH and of course the Silencer to completely put this build off the grid.
Hacker Pro – With this you not only have full situational awareness of the battlefield, you’re able to turn the enemies tactics and equipment against them.  There is no bigger thrill in the game than being behind enemy lines and not only stealing an enemy care package but making it go BOOM when they try and grab it.  The fact that this makes you invisible to Motion Sensors just enhances this build.  Ghost?  Casper has nothing on this build!

EQUIPMENT
Concussion or Flash Grenades – Whatever floats your boat, you’ll need these to flush out the campers on or near an objective.
Frag or Semtex Grenades – I have a lot of luck with frags but most people prefer to know where they can stick it.
Claymore – Place these at the flags when you take them and along traffic congested routes.  Use them to cover your back in buildings but don’t rely on them, when you hear ‘your equipment has been destroyed’, check your six.  More often then not you’ll get that kill you need to add to your Killstreak.

That’s just my preference for Equipment.  You may want to use something else.  I prefer the ‘set it and forget it’ attitude of a Claymore.  I’m always on the move with a build like this and don’t stay in one part of the map long enough to make a Motion Sensor or Jammer feasible.  Though if I had to choose something else it would be the Jammer.  I’d just place it near an objective to help the team out then go off and do my thing.

THE WEAPONS
Really, you could use the Primary Weapon of your choice (my preferences are the Galil and Commando).  What is important here is the Silencer attachment so as to draw as little attention to yourself and the duel mags to make up for not having SoH.

I like the CZ75 with Extended Mags as a backup piece.  The idea being that in a tight situation you switch your weapons rather then go for a reload, something I always forget to do!  On the few occasions that I have run out of ammo on my primary and lived to tell about it, I can always count on the CZ75 for few more kills.  Why not run a silencer on the CZ75 you ask?  I figure if the situation calls for me to pull out the pistol the enemy knows where I am anyway.  I’d rather have extra range and ammo in the cartridge and give away my position.  At that point I’m on a suicide mission anyway, looking to die so I can call in my Killstreaks from a safe place.

You could also equip a Launcher if that’s your thing.  For me, I find that most of the time my team will have a guy on it eager to take the enemy’s aircraft and with this build I have found myself in enough situations where I ran out of ammo on my primary to warrant the pistol.

The thing to remember with this build is unless the enemy has a line of sight on you, you are completely invisible.  They can still hear you if they have Turtle Beaches on so don’t rush and run everywhere especially in buildings.  So many people playing Black Ops rely on that mini-map (myself included) so it’s easy to sneak up on them.  The Motion Sensor users are my favorites, they’ll never see you coming because of Hacker Pro.  And, as always, flank, flank, flank.

CoD Black Ops: First Strike & some advice from GUNNS…

I was planning to discuss pro perks today but I’ll take this opportunity to briefly talk about the new map pack.

FIRST STRIKE, FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Whether it’s worth the 1200 Microsoft Points for 4 MP and 1 zombie map is arbitrary.  If you’re enjoying Black Ops then it’s going to be worth it for you.  I wish they would give us a bit more bang for our buck but greed seems to be trendy these days so why break the corporate mold?  Out of the box and mucking around with the First Strike maps in Combat Training I have to say the maps are pretty good overall.

I thought Berlin Wall would have been a bit bigger and I’m confused as to the purpose of No Man’s Land, an area guarded by turrets that even Ghost Pro can not undermine.  An interesting game dynamic could have been implemented if there was a way to turn these turrets on and off.  As it stands, there is not and No Man’s Land is simply a segment of the map that should be avoided and only serves to make the map feel smaller than I suppose it really is.  Maybe it’s a masked statement about the futility of war.  If so, it’s a statement that will be completely lost on most of the maroons playing this game.

Stadium is also a little disappointing.  I thought this one would’ve been bigger as well.  It would have been nice to have been able to go out onto the ice in the hockey rink.  Even nicer if the surface had caused people to slide around a bit.  Imagine having a knife fight in such an arena?  It’s still a fun map though.

Kowloon will be a camper’s paradise and calling in Care Packages on this map will result in many headaches.  GUNNS4HIRE over at NextGenTactics has already identified the Deadliest Spot on Kowloon, go have a viddy.

I like snowy maps, they remind me of Christmas, and I’m hoping Discovery replaces Summit as one of the most played maps.  Not because I hate Summit, I’m just tired of playing it (and Firing Range).

USE STATISTICS TO IMPROVE YOUR GAME
GUNNS4HIRE over at NextGenTactics has some great advice on how to discern, evaluate and use to your advantage the statistics Black Ops throws at you.  Go have a viddy.

COMING SOON
Next I’ll be discussing some tips for unlocking Pro Perks easier.  I look forward to getting people’s feedback on things.